Farm to School — Know Your Foods

In this Play, students will learn about where their food comes from and lead efforts to have your school purchase and serve nutritious, fresh, regionally grown and raised food — including milk!i You’ll organize field trips and taste tests, and you’ll work with your school nutrition professionals to get these foods on the menu.

This Play has two important parts: education (i.e., learning about farm-raised and farm-grown food and dairy in your area and understanding their benefits) and implementation (i.e., bringing locally produced food and dairy into your school in a practical way that fits local and school regulations and budgets). You’ll collaborate with local farms and organizations that can provide expertise to help raise awareness about the great work that’s probably being done right in your school’s backyard.

Why This Play?

Learning about the work of dairy and other farmers in producing nutritious foods can help students better appreciate the variety of foods available and where those foods come from.ii

Local food sourcing and farm-to-school initiatives can also benefit the local economy,iii may help the environmentiv and can be used to teach kids about where their food comes from.v And, according to the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census, schools with robust farm-to-school programs report reductions in food waste, higher school meal participation rates and increased willingness of students to try new foods.viSee this video to learn more.

What to Do

Understanding where your food comes from and trying new, nutritious options is just the start of building healthier eating habits. Remember, this Play is about two things: education (i.e., students learning where their food comes from) and implementation (i.e., getting more farm-fresh foods on your school menu).

See how two schools have started working on their own farm-to-school Plays here and here.

Note: In any Play where you plan to work with school meals or à la carte offerings, you must involve the school nutrition director and other professionals! If that’s not you, be sure to contact that team before you get started.

Step 1: Education.

Organize a trip to visit a local dairy farm to follow milk from the farm to your glass.

Be sure to document your trip with photos and/or videos.

Include images of all the various people working on the farm and learn what they do. Use this Who’s Who in the Food System to have students map the pictures and people back to what they’ve already learned about what goes on in modern-day farming.

If there are no farms close to your school, consider scheduling a virtual tour via Skype or FaceTime, or use these Undeniably Dairy videos, developed in partnership between National Dairy Council and Discovery Education:

Then, use this STEM curriculum lesson to help students learn more about how food gets from the farm to their school, and the science behind fermentation.

You can also use these videos from Fuel Up to Play 60 supporters all over the country to show students how farming is important to their community in many ways.

Step 2: Implementation — get local foods on the menu.

Hold taste tests with students to have them try local, seasonal food items (suggested budget of $0.60 per student — not covered by Fuel Up to Play 60 Funds).

Incorporate local dairy foods by having a smoothie taste test using local fruits and vegetables blended with low-fat yogurt and/or milk, or pair a serving of different types of low-fat cheeses with local, seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Use these breakfast recipes as part of your Healthy Eating Play and make sure students know that milk is one of the local food categories offered daily in schoolsvii — fresh and always in season!

Note: Don’t forget to visit the Funding and Outfitting Your Play section for information and ideas on what you might need to help with this Play.

Step 3: Help students build your program by having them learn about the future of farming.

There are lots of ways to participate in or support local and regional efforts, including farming. Consider developing partnerships with your local 4-H club or nearest Future Farmers of America chapter. Find ways to involve students more in learning about farming and build relationships between your school and these organizations.

Who Can Help

You are not in this alone. There are many people who can help make this Play a success. For this Play, you’ll need the help of your school nutrition professionals. Meet with them first to talk about the goals of the Play and what seems most “doable” in your school. Here’s a list of some of the people who can help with this Play and some specific ways they can do that.

Who Can Help

What They Can Do

School Nutrition Professionals

Help with strategy and nutritious food selection to bring locally grown, produced or raised foods into the school food-service program

Participate in assemblies with farmers to talk about the value of farm-fresh foods

Principal

Approve your plan and its various field trips and assemblies

Engage with school nutrition staff, teachers and custodians to get their support

As with any game that’s worth playing and winning, you are bound to run into challenges. That's why getting help from others is so important. You’ll be more likely to achieve your goals when everyone works together.

Use this video about dairy farming and cow care and this video from the USDA’s Farm to School initiative to learn more and get your team excited about how this program will be educational and improve the eating choices for your entire school community.

Build Interest

Brainstorm questions in advance, such as: What does it take to create milk and other nutrient-rich dairy foods? How do dairy farmers care for their cows and the land, and how does this impact the quality of the milk? How does food get from the farm to your school tray?

Ask your school nutrition professionals to participate in the assembly by explaining the benefits of enjoying foods from the farms in your region and ask classroom teachers to have follow-up discussions in class.

Be sure to emphasize that it is dairy farmers who support Fuel Up to Play 60 and the importance of both nutrition and physical activity.

Have students thank the farmers for working so hard to make sure we have nutrient-rich foods and beverages that are both nutritious and delicious.

Create a “Farm-to-School Snack Table” in the cafeteria and offer samples of the various foods produced by local and regional farmers, including low-fat and fat-free milk, cheese, yogurt and seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Create a sign for each item that explains the nutrients in that food or beverage and tells a little about the farm it comes from.

Create “Know Your Foods” posters or a photo slideshow tracing the path foods take from the farm to your lunchroom. Highlight milk and other foods from local, regional, or even more distant farms, and the many people involved along the way who ensure nutritious foods are available to the community.

Send posters or videos to local dairy farmers that highlight the work you are doing in school. It’s a great way to make them feel like an important part of the team. Don’t forget to include thank-you messages for providing Funds for Fuel Up to Play 60 and for their commitment to healthy students and the community.

Scrimmage Time

Implement a farmer trading cards program like this school district in Virginia’s Loudoun County did. Invite the selected farmers come to school to sign cards and interact with students so the students can learn more about farming and the important roles needed to run a successful farm.

Think long term — host afarm-to-school community fair at your school.

Invite local farmers, parents and other members of your community to learn about the efforts you are making in your school.

Have farmers bring their foods and make presentations or answer questions about their farming techniques.

Include local businesses that stock or serve local foods in their stores or on the menu.

Serve snacks made with local foods so the group can taste for themselves the foods from the region that can help nourish the community.

Community

This section features ideas on ways to involve everyone in your school and community. Think about ideas for differentiating between older and younger students and ways to bring in the family connection.

Don’t have a farm that’s within easy traveling distance from your school? Work with your local Dairy Council to build a mentoring relationship with a farmer who is willing.

You can set up regular phone calls, email correspondence or even video conference question-and-answer sessions where you can ask questions and get advice or answers straight from the farmer.

By building a long-term relationship with your region’s farmers, you can open doors for more farm-to-school teamwork and opportunities for students and their classmates to explore careers in agriculture.

Create a makerspaces section in the cafeteria’s kitchen facilities and find some volunteers to supervise student “makers” who come in once a week to experiment with various farm-fresh ingredients to learn about cooking, nutrition and more.

If a dedicated space is not available, create some makerspace bins to hold utensils, spices, pantry staples, etc.

Work with a local farmer or farm-to-store representative to provide ingredients so students can experiment and make some new, exciting dishes.

Put students in the driver’s seat as much as possible. They’ll learn valuable life lessons on how to plan and implement programs, and they’ll feel great about helping their school!

For Everyone

Everyone can:

Volunteer to run the farm-to-school snack table and hold taste tests.

Identify local farmers — especially dairy farmers — who can talk about their work and invite them to speak at your school.

Create posters, photo slideshows and videos to share information about the farmers in your community and the hard work they do to help provide nutritious foods.

Choose seasonal fruits and vegetables and local or regional dairy foods like milk for taste tests and to highlight in the cafeteria.

Inform their families about the active role dairy farmers are taking to support students through Fuel Up to Play 60.

Homefield Advantage: Check out this resource and share it with parents and caretakers so they can see what they can do to help at home and at school.

Help Build the Whole Fuel Up to Play 60 Community

Encourage students to log on to their Dashboard and report activity to achieve Level Three (30,000 Points) and be named a Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassador! Having ambassadors at your school might help get more students involved!

More Information on this Topic

Warm Up Activity Idea!

Not quite ready for the full Play? Try this.

Work with local dairy farmers and processors to host regular smoothie events at your school. Invite local produce farmers to bring their resources and make them veggie-smoothie events! Run one every month if possible and work with the farmers to see about broadening the program to create a more robust farm-to-school program.

Success Stories

Washington 4th/5th Grade Ctr

Creating the Best Farm to School Trip Ever

Our students planed our second Farm to School field trip along side community members and friends

DiscoverDairy.com has a collection of elementary and middle school lessons that can help you engage students in farm-to-school information while also meeting standards in Common Core and STEM. In addition, try this STEM curriculum lesson from UndeniablyDairy, a partnership between Discovery Education and the National Dairy Council.

Read this story about a PE teacher who integrates agriculture and nutrition education into his classes every day, and how Fuel Up to Play 60 was able to help! (Note: The article is on a news site that can be a bit distracting because of its use of advertisements.) Use this to get started or to complement the idea for an outdoor learning space described in Farm to School Optional Activities found in What to Do.

More Funding Opportunities

Fuel Up to Play 60 provides this information as a courtesy. It does not imply an endorsement of the websites, organizations, or all information provided thereby. Fuel Up to Play 60 cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided through links. You will be subject to the destination site's privacy policy and terms of use when you leave this website.